HERetICal wrote:Offered 8k, with 8k each additional year. Same deal as Sauer, top 25% to get the cash.

I'm still shocked at the top 25% requirement. That seems like something a bushleague TTT would do.

Completely agree. Good schools admit good students and simply require good standing and assume they're not giving money to dummies. I haven't received word on a scholarship (or whether I'm even receiving one), but my interest in the school has significantly decreased because I'm pretty sure that all their scholies will probably have the same requirement. I can't go to a place with the assumption that I'll finish in the top 25%.

HERetICal wrote:Offered 8k, with 8k each additional year. Same deal as Sauer, top 25% to get the cash.

I'm still shocked at the top 25% requirement. That seems like something a bushleague TTT would do.

Catholic gave me the same top 25% requirement for a scholarship. I was amused for the two minutes it took for me to write them back and withdraw.

GMU has always taken the "we keep tuition low so scholarships are small and rare" approach; given the stats of the people in this thread unhappy about the scholarship requirements, I'd say it might be a strategy that will hurt them long-term. C'mon guys, I need you stars to attend, graduate, get amazing jobs, and boost the value of GMU degrees!

GMU does not have low tuition. Not relatively, not at all. Who said $35k/year is cheap? Maybe five years ago GMU had low tuition, those days are long gone.

GMU has a small endowment and are incapable of offering decent scholarships. Also, why should they offer scholarships, the demand to attend GMU is strong because of its location. Be happy if you get ANY money at all.

Does anyone think that GMU is worth sticker for an out-of-state student? Residual factors aside like location, rankings, etc. Just from a financial view, do you think it is truly worth it?

brigun wrote:Would GMU be worth full sticker? I was accepted, but no scholly. IP law or in-house corporate counsel interests me.

GMU's main strength, as I understand it, is government work, not corporate positions. If you were into regulatory law, for instance, it'd be a good option.

Earlier poster was right -- it's really, really difficult to jump from law school straight into an in-house corporate position. Five years of legal experience seems like a common prereq.

I've been admitted to Mason as well. Still hoping for a scholarship. OOS tuition would be tough, especially with the high COL in the DC area -- and especially when you have schools like Villanova and UNC with better job placement in the NLJ250 and generous cash offers. We'll see how it works out, but I am very pleased to have Mason as an option.

ram jam wrote:GMU does not have low tuition. Not relatively, not at all. Who said $35k/year is cheap? Maybe five years ago GMU had low tuition, those days are long gone.

GMU has a small endowment and are incapable of offering decent scholarships. Also, why should they offer scholarships, the demand to attend GMU is strong because of its location. Be happy if you get ANY money at all.

Does anyone think that GMU is worth sticker for an out-of-state student? Residual factors aside like location, rankings, etc. Just from a financial view, do you think it is truly worth it?

HERetICal wrote:Offered 8k, with 8k each additional year. Same deal as Sauer, top 25% to get the cash.

I'm still shocked at the top 25% requirement. That seems like something a bushleague TTT would do.

GMU has always taken the "we keep tuition low so scholarships are small and rare" approach; given the stats of the people in this thread unhappy about the scholarship requirements, I'd say it might be a strategy that will hurt them long-term. C'mon guys, I need you stars to attend, graduate, get amazing jobs, and boost the value of GMU degrees!

This is classic Virginia Public University mentality. No scholarships, lower tuition (Check out W&M and GMU compared to their peers) and 5-10% tuition hikes each year. Its a bait and switch.

BTW you can definitely cut the cost of living in NOVA down drastically. You just need to be willing to commute. You might even be able to find a deal near the metro stop in Springfield, as that area's housing market totally went under.

Got a smaller award than higher ranked schools gave me. That and the ridiculous top 25% requirement just effectively cut Mason off my list. Also, the lower tuition stuff is crap; the total cost of attendance is within $2k/yr of the other schools I'm considering

gemma232 wrote:Is this the consensus on GMU's financial aid (i.e., need to be top 25% to keep it)? How hard is it to be top 25% at a school like Mason (i.e., fairly easy, fairly difficult)?

Never assume that you will finish at anything but median at any law school. It's not easy to finish in the top 25% at any school.

I agree. I'm not on scholarship, but I wouldn't count on finishing top 25% (too much luck involved).

*edit*You guys do know about the new income based repayment option for student loans, right? I did a quick search on this site, and this post sums it up well:

I have a question about the Income Based Repayment (IBR) option for student loans. Does it apply to any job that you get once you graduate? For example, worst-case scenario you graduate $200,000 in debt with a JD and get a job at McDonald's making minimum wage--would you only be responsible for paying a percentage of your minimum wage income under IBR (and not a flat monthly payment)? That is, you have $200,000 in debt, but are only responsible for paying like $20 a month because you don't make very much money at your job? What if you don't have an income (i.e., don't find a job)--does that mean you don't have to pay your loans under the IBR plan?

IBR applies to any job/income. You would be paying a percent of your adjusted gross income. There is no minimum set payment, and if you are unemployed or earning less than the federal poverty line, your monthly payments would be $0. Of course, there would still be interest accruing on the loans. Keep in mind that IBR is only an option for federal loans (Stafford/Direct, GradPLUS, Perkns) not private.

Long story short, it eliminates the pressure to get a job to pay back student loans (i.e., could be unemployed, with over $200,000 in student loans from law school, and your monthly payments under IBR are zero)

They just started this plan at the same time I enrolled, and I know lots of people in law school who justified taking on the law school debt because of the new plan. Just something to think about.

truthypants wrote:*edit*You guys do know about the new income based repayment option for student loans, right? I did a quick search on this site, and this post sums it up well:

I have a question about the Income Based Repayment (IBR) option for student loans. Does it apply to any job that you get once you graduate? For example, worst-case scenario you graduate $200,000 in debt with a JD and get a job at McDonald's making minimum wage--would you only be responsible for paying a percentage of your minimum wage income under IBR (and not a flat monthly payment)? That is, you have $200,000 in debt, but are only responsible for paying like $20 a month because you don't make very much money at your job? What if you don't have an income (i.e., don't find a job)--does that mean you don't have to pay your loans under the IBR plan?

IBR applies to any job/income. You would be paying a percent of your adjusted gross income. There is no minimum set payment, and if you are unemployed or earning less than the federal poverty line, your monthly payments would be $0. Of course, there would still be interest accruing on the loans. Keep in mind that IBR is only an option for federal loans (Stafford/Direct, GradPLUS, Perkns) not private.

Long story short, it eliminates the pressure to get a job to pay back student loans (i.e., could be unemployed, with over $200,000 in student loans from law school, and your monthly payments under IBR are zero)

They just started this plan at the same time I enrolled, and I know lots of people in law school who justified taking on the law school debt because of the new plan. Just something to think about.

Let's don't take on $200,000 worth of debt thinking it'll all be okay. IBR isn't a get out of jail free card.

truthypants wrote:*edit*You guys do know about the new income based repayment option for student loans, right? I did a quick search on this site, and this post sums it up well:

I have a question about the Income Based Repayment (IBR) option for student loans. Does it apply to any job that you get once you graduate? For example, worst-case scenario you graduate $200,000 in debt with a JD and get a job at McDonald's making minimum wage--would you only be responsible for paying a percentage of your minimum wage income under IBR (and not a flat monthly payment)? That is, you have $200,000 in debt, but are only responsible for paying like $20 a month because you don't make very much money at your job? What if you don't have an income (i.e., don't find a job)--does that mean you don't have to pay your loans under the IBR plan?

IBR applies to any job/income. You would be paying a percent of your adjusted gross income. There is no minimum set payment, and if you are unemployed or earning less than the federal poverty line, your monthly payments would be $0. Of course, there would still be interest accruing on the loans. Keep in mind that IBR is only an option for federal loans (Stafford/Direct, GradPLUS, Perkns) not private.

Long story short, it eliminates the pressure to get a job to pay back student loans (i.e., could be unemployed, with over $200,000 in student loans from law school, and your monthly payments under IBR are zero)

They just started this plan at the same time I enrolled, and I know lots of people in law school who justified taking on the law school debt because of the new plan. Just something to think about.

Let's don't take on $200,000 worth of debt thinking it'll all be okay. IBR isn't a get out of jail free card.

Without a scholarship, law school loans will exceed your federal loans limit. So if you don't get a jobbed, you're fucked. I agree with your claim about not taking out more money than you can conceptualize.

truthypants wrote:*edit*You guys do know about the new income based repayment option for student loans, right? I did a quick search on this site, and this post sums it up well:

I have a question about the Income Based Repayment (IBR) option for student loans. Does it apply to any job that you get once you graduate? For example, worst-case scenario you graduate $200,000 in debt with a JD and get a job at McDonald's making minimum wage--would you only be responsible for paying a percentage of your minimum wage income under IBR (and not a flat monthly payment)? That is, you have $200,000 in debt, but are only responsible for paying like $20 a month because you don't make very much money at your job? What if you don't have an income (i.e., don't find a job)--does that mean you don't have to pay your loans under the IBR plan?

IBR applies to any job/income. You would be paying a percent of your adjusted gross income. There is no minimum set payment, and if you are unemployed or earning less than the federal poverty line, your monthly payments would be $0. Of course, there would still be interest accruing on the loans. Keep in mind that IBR is only an option for federal loans (Stafford/Direct, GradPLUS, Perkns) not private.

Long story short, it eliminates the pressure to get a job to pay back student loans (i.e., could be unemployed, with over $200,000 in student loans from law school, and your monthly payments under IBR are zero)

They just started this plan at the same time I enrolled, and I know lots of people in law school who justified taking on the law school debt because of the new plan. Just something to think about.

Let's don't take on $200,000 worth of debt thinking it'll all be okay. IBR isn't a get out of jail free card.

I'm going to have to agree with Funky on this one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this doesn't eliminate the pressure to pay back the loans. If you're making no payments it removes your risk of defaulting and hurting your credit long-term; however, it looks like the interest continues to accrue the entire time you're not paying so your 200,000 of debt would grow pretty quickly if you're not paying down any interest or the principle.